Mission Focus Testimony 2022: Alyssa Sloss
This Mission Focus was the third one I have had the privilege of attending over my three-ish years at Midtown Baptist Temple. Each year, as I have grown in my own walk with the Lord and been brought up within my local church, the Lord has shown me so much to refine my service and hone my calling to ministry. Similarly, this year’s Mission Focus greatly challenged me in two distinct areas: my love of the Father and the importance of numbering my days.
“Serving Christ out of our love for our savior is where we will find our identity. ”
Coming into Mission Focus, I was already being taught what the Lord would come to show me there. Isn’t that always the case? I was lucky enough to attend a service at Living Faith Lee’s Summit the Sunday before the conference, where Pastor Dan Reneau was delivering a pre-Mission Focus message based on our fellowship’s focus on praying, preparing, giving, and going. In this message, Dan said something that really pricked me. He said that we need to stop striving to be “better” going into the new year, and rather trust more in the Lord to move, as that is where we will find our lives truly changed. This brought forth conviction in me, because I had already been so prepared to try and do better in my works for the Lord in this new year with my arbitrary resolutions. I had yet to consider what the Lord would do through me in this new year, and I had only focused on what I could do for the Lord and how to do it best. As I went into my first night of Mission Focus, this conviction rested heavily on my heart.
If you had the privilege of attending this year’s conference or viewing the services online, then you know what I mean when I say that James Fyffe’s message cut me incredibly deep with the two-edged sword that is the Word of God. He began his message in Genesis 24, examining how we must be servants to the mission. James specifically pointed out our need for sacrifice and stamina in our servanthood to the mission God has given us, and I sat there thinking, “Yes, I still have so much more to give to this mission.” James then completely flipped the tables and reminded us that we are not servants to the mission, and to think so will only result in our own exhaustion and insecurity, but rather we need to be servants to our master — our Lord Jesus Christ.
Serving Christ out of our love for our savior is where we will find our identity. Our sacrifice and stamina will be swapped out for complete surrender and supernatural strength. This message humbled me greatly, as I was brought to recognize all the times this year that I had been serving in my flesh in order to serve the mission, rather than serving in the Spirit by serving my Lord and Savior. I know God is able to redeem that time in my true repentance, and to sit in guilt and shame before a forgiving God would be foolish. This is why I am thankful to follow such a gracious God, and it is just one of the reasons why He is worth following and worthy of all worship.
“If I am going to rightly serve, I must be awake, ready for the work, and prepared for battle...”
The convictions I felt from Joe McKaig and Jeff Bartell’s messages both surrounded my immediate need to number my days. Jeff presented the idea that modern Christians face spiritual starvation as a result of everyone around them in the church being spiritually asleep. Joe continued this idea by calling on us to wake up from our sleep, because when we are asleep, we are numb and apathetic to those around us. In my own service to the mission over service to the Master, I have seen myself drifting off. I have felt waves of apathy within me which lead me to be blind to the reality of the world around me. Our days are numbered. Joe McKaig’s greatest challenge to me came in the form of a question: is the motivation of the glory of God enough to wake me up?
I was reading through Nehemiah in my quiet time this week, and Joe’s questions reminded me of chapter four. In this chapter, the Jews are working on rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem when they face opposition from their enemies. As the men build this wall, they are aware of the dangers around them, and in Nehemiah 4:22-23, we see that even when resting, they remain on guard — not even putting off their clothes so that they could be ready for service at all times. I realized in my quiet time that I am not only often asleep, but I am not ready for service even when I am awake. There are many practical ways for me to be ready (prayer, quiet time, etc.), but if my heart isn’t the Lord’s in all these things, then I will continue to sleep-walk through ministry.
These evening sessions were incredibly profitable, because as I faced my convictions, I had the chance to live out what the Lord was showing me while serving in the student ministry for the morning sessions. I have been a leader in our student ministry for a few months now, and have also started mentoring an eighth-grader. Serving in the youth ministry has been like the sweetest bucket of ice water being dumped on me from the beginning, but with what the Lord was showing me on my mind, serving here was an even more urgent wake-up call. I feel true, godly fear when considering the kids within the student ministry. If we are going to discuss numbering our days, the youth ministry is a perfect example of this. Every year, we have new waves of kids joining in and older kids facing the option to stay or to leave. Jeff Grasher and Josh O’Hora, along with the other student leaders, have the unique task of catching students as they grow into independent people, trying to release them with a heart for God and his Word so that they would choose to continue to follow Christ, which is no simple or rewarding task. My time with Jeff and Josh has shown me what true humility can look like, but more importantly what it can look like to genuinely love like Christ. Just as James was pointing out, there is absolutely no way to serve these kids without truly loving our Lord and Savior. In my own strength and even with stamina, I will never be patient enough, kind enough, or discerning enough to love these kids, and God forbid I try to show them the love of Christ in my flesh, as I know I have done in the past.
It is of the utmost importance that I am truly awake in my time with them. In Nehemiah 4:17-18, the builders who are working on the wall of Jerusalem are shown with one hand building and being a part of the work while their other hand held a weapon to defend the work from their enemies. If I am going to rightly serve, I must be awake, ready for the work, and prepared for battle with the sword that is the Word of God (Eph. 6:17). I have such a short time with the students and with my life. If my life is nothing but a vapor, then I should be striving to be awake and ready for battle for as much of it as possible.
On the final day of Mission Focus, Jeff Grasher preached on the implications of Jesus Christ being the Son of God, and his overall point was that God should be our first love and should have our hearts. For if God truly has our hearts, then He will have everything else. Such a simple message, but a message that I needed to be reminded of. I need to stop my immature thinking that loving the church and the work will be enough to sustain me and come to recognize that Jesus Christ is worthy of all my love and all my life. Jeff Bartell ended his preaching with a compelling statement. He said, “If you believe only half of what you say you believe, then the only answer left is ‘Yes, Lord.’” I pray that for me and for you, even just the gospel would be enough for “Yes, Lord” to be the only response coming from our lips.
Alyssa Sloss is a member at Midtown Baptist Temple and is a part of C&YA. She is also a part of the Student Ministry & Postscript Team. She is also involved in the South Kansas City Women’s Bible Study.
